How is this HLC visit different?

The comprehensive review process has been changed significantly since our last accreditation review and visit nearly a decade ago.  At that time, the campus had to pull together a very lengthy, detailed themed self-study.  The comprehensive review now entails an Assurance Filing and a Federal Compliance Filing.  The Federal Compliance form document with a list of specific questions, around 30 pages all told, identifying how we meet particular U.S. Department of Education requirements.  The Assurance Filing is limited to 35,000 words, or around 140 pages, and must directly respond to specific questions indicating how we meet the criteria for accreditation.  In contrast, the 2009 Thematic Self Study was 266 pages, or around 100,000 words long. 

The Assurance Filing, which is being written by Faculty Accreditation Fellow Rick Fisher with evidence gathering supported across campus, can be augmented with evidence - essentially PDF’ed documents of websites, policies, syllabi, minutes, and other artifacts that directly support our ability to meet the various criteria for accreditation.   The Assurance Filing system is restricted access to the HLC Accreditation Liaison Officer, Anne Alexander, and up to 15 other people.  However, the HLC Ops Team will share the Assurance Filing with campus in the early Fall of 2019.